After two failed attempts to vote on a remote attendance policy for trustees the Manteno Board of Trustees finally approved the policy by a 4-1 vote on Monday with one abstention.

Trustees CJ Boudreau, Todd Crockett, Joel Gesky and Annette Zimbelman voted in favor of the motion, while Peggy Vaughn voted against. Mike Barry abstained.

Village Attorney Joe Cainkar drew up the ordinance based on what is allowed by Illinois state statute. The policy allows board members to attend remotely, via Zoom, for the following reasons: personal illness or disability, employment purposes or business of the public body, family or other emergency, unexpected childcare obligations, and active military duty as a service member.

“I think following the state statute seems to take out all the gray area listed, and that’s what the attorney has in there,” said Crockett during discussion of the policy before the vote was taken.

The board member who will attend a meeting remotely must notify the village clerk or village administrator at least 48 hours prior to the meeting in writing or by email. The administrator or clerk will notify the other members of who will be attending remotely.

Also, the Board must have a quorum of three members at the physical location of the meeting in order to allow someone to attend remotely.

The remote attendance policy was first put on the agenda at the March 2 board meeting, but it was tabled and sent to committee for more discussion. It was brought up again on April 6 but a motion to take a vote didn’t receive a second.

“It’s going to benefit the community,” said Gesky, who added some saw it as just for Annette Zimbelman, who missed some meetings due to illness. “Annette is back. This was not the Annette Zimbelman ordinance. It was meant for every person, bringing more participation. It will give us more insight.”

Before the vote, it was discussed if there should be a limit on the number of times a board member could use remote attendance. It’s not addressed in the ordinance, but trustees agreed the issue, as well as others, could be handled through communication among trustees.

“I don’t know why we would want to limit participation,” Crockett said.

Boudreau asked if something went horribly wrong and a trustee would miss six months, for example, could there be changes made to the remote attendance policy.

“You can always amend it,” Cainkar said. “That’s definitely OK.”